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After telling her husband to run, woman dies in South Royalton fire

Free Press Staff
Published 10:39 a.m. ET April 16, 2018

Vermont State Police released this photo after a South Royalton home fire on Saturday, April 14, 2018 that left one woman dead.(Photo: COURTESY PHOTO)

A woman died in a house fire Saturday night after yelling for her husband to run from the flames, Vermont State Police said in a news release.

Police said that a firefighter found Roberta Staples, 60, dead inside the house on North Road in South Royalton.

Her husband, 58-year-old Timothy Staples, fled the home at about 11:33 p.m. Saturday and reached a neighbor who called 911. He was "unable to get back inside due to the extreme heat and smoke," police said.

Icy and snowy roads hindered the response of the South Royalton Fire Department and Vermont State Police, according to a news release, and they arrived as the house was beginning to collapse. The Randolph and Barnard Fire Departments also sent firefighters to the scene.

The Vermont Department of Public Safety Fire Investigation Unit is investigating the origin and cause of the fire. The body of the deceased woman was brought to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Burlington for an autopsy.

Police have asked anyone with information about the fire to call Detective Trooper Christopher Blais at 722-4600 or Detective Sergeant Todd Ambroz at 878-7111.